Saline High School boys track and field coach Allan Leslie stood feet away from the track as one of his runners was trailing in a heat during the Golden Triangle meet Friday evening.

Unfazed by the runner’s position; Leslie was happy to see what sort of effort the runner put forth.

“Because it’s not a scored meet, we kind of matched our kids up in events that we wanted to take a look. We’re putting kids where we want to see them,” Leslie said. “Maybe that’s where they’ll run at regionals, maybe not.”

Being able to “take a look” at talent during one of the largest meets of the year is a luxury Saline can afford as the largest track program in the state, with more than 250 athletes between the boys and girls teams.

“Like any sport, depth is important. In track where there are 17 events, the name of the game is numbers, bodies to fill those events.” said girls coach Mike Smith. “Because of those numbers, the competition for those top two or three spots is good. You’ve got 10 people going after those top spots and that can only be a positive thing.”

Related content: Photo gallery | Boys results | Girls results

Leslie, too, uses events like the Golden Triangle to motivate his guys and keep them on their toes.

“I think it’s motivation in itself because the other thing we did was change up our relays a bit to let people know they may not be as secure as they think they are,” said Leslie. “Sometimes you need to compete against yourselves a little bit and get those internal strifes to get those competitive juices going."

The Golden Triangle, held at Saline High School, featured teams from 26 different schools competing in 19 events. There was no team scoring, but athletes were able to gauge where they stood compared to potential competition at MHSAA regional meets in two weeks.

“Right now, two weeks before the regional, is exactly where we want our kids to be,” Smith said.“It’s good to have that preparation. Having two weeks to go, it’s nice to have a dress rehearsal.”

Currently the Saline boys team is ranked No. 1 in the state by the Michigan Interscholastic Track Coaches Association. On Friday, the Hornets had four individual champions in John Smutny (discus, 148-08), Garrick Roemer (400 run, :49.58), Matthew Elms (800, 1:55.93) and Logan Wetzel (1,600 run, 4:22.67).

Saline also dominated the distance relays, winning the 3,200-meter race and finishing first and second in the 1,600 event with its 'A' and 'B' teams.

The Hornets' girls team, ranked No. 3 in the MITCA Division 1 poll, showed the strength of its distance runners by taking four of the top five spots in the 3,200-meter run. Abby Rentschler (10:51.97) finished first and Elianna Shwayder (10:55.99) was second.

Saline also won the 400 (:49.61) and 3,200 (9:27.60) relays and got a first-place finish from Randi Bennett in the discus. Bennett was also second in the shot put.

“Our team goal starting the year was to win the (Southeastern Conference) and win the region, and that’s our goal every year,” Leslie said. “I think we’ve put ourselves in that position.

“The kids trained hard and did everything that we asked. They’ve gone by the training rules and they’re a motivated group.”

Pair of Huron runners set meet records

Huron High School seniors Maya Long and Cindy Ofili set meet records in the 400-meter and 100-meter hurdles, respectively.

Long’s time of 56.07 seconds in the 400 run beat the previous record of 57.3 that Long set at last year’s meet. While she was happy with the way she ran, Long feels she can do better.

“My goal today was a 55, which would be my season record, but I’m happy with the way I did,” said Long. “There’s a little less than a month (until regionals) so that’s a lot of training and time to work on my turnovers.”

Olifi’s record-setting time of 14.0 seconds in the 100 hurdles was just enough to beat the previous record of 14.2 seconds. Olifi’s coach, Keri Kirk, says the duo has been a tremendous influence on the team this season.

“Our senior leadership is awesome, they’ve taken their running to another level and the girls are following their example,” Kirk said.

Ofili also won the 100 dash (:12.23), the 300 hurdles (:45.99) and joined Long on the winning 800 relay team. Long was second in the 200 dash.

Ypsilanti’s Austin Sanders part of four victories

Senior Austin Sanders from Ypsilanti High School had a busy and productive day, winning two individual events and running legs on two victorious relay teams.

“I was just going through the training that coach always has me go through. A lot of conditioning so I can run multiple sprint events,” Sanders said. “We try to build it up so we can go back-to-back events and give it our best.”

Sanders took first place in the boys 100- and 200-meter dashes with times of 10.87 and 22.28 seconds, respectively. He was part of Phoenix teams that won the 400 and 800-meter relay events.

Kabine Daine won the 300-meter hurdles in 40.11 seconds for the Phoenix, who'll go head-to-head with Saline in a Division 1 regional.

More local champions

In the boys meet, Pioneer's Drake Johnson won the 110-meter hurdles in 14.68 seconds and Dexter's Gary Noah won the pole vault. Noah and Pioneer's Tyler Leach each cleared 14 feet.

In the girls meet, Chelsea won the girls distance medley in 12:49.55 and Lincoln's Bria Williams won the high jump (5-01).